Brian Waddell is talking to us about basketball, in this scenario, his drive against Austin Peay specifically, where he dribbled into the lane, to the other side of the rim, and then he just kind of stopped. His coaches harp on them about this, keep both feet on the ground, stay patient, things will open up. He got a lay up out of it.

It's a basketball lesson, but for someone like Waddell, it also seems to be a good life lesson, too, one he's taken to heart as much as the basket.

Waddell's got good posture, standing up against the wall and entertaining us by talking about his injury. His most recent injury, I should say. The one with his ankle, not the nightmare inducing knee injury that required surgery, a redshirt, and a year of work to get here. Here being two games into his college career, finally, after missing his entire freshman season with a redshirt that was probably already coming, but that was supposed to be a year of growth and learning in Coach Painter's program.

Instead, he'd get a year of rehab. He'd get a year of building back up to be what he was, learning to trust parts of his body that used to allow him to run, cut, and jump without issue or concern. That trust had been broken, and what's more difficult in life than trusting something that's already let us down?

"My knee feels like it's 100%, but confidence wise, I don't know if I'm quite there yet," Waddell tells me. Coach Painter remarked that he saw more from Waddell in the games this season than in practice. Adrenaline is a hell of a thing, forgetting about the pain and uncertainty in favor of the 14,000 lunatics yelling and cheering you on.

"The adrenaline obviously, you got all the people watching, just gets you going a little bit," Waddell says about being back out there on the court. "Maybe that's something I need to work on in practices. Making sure I'm amped up at practices, too."

But recovery is a long road, no matter how young the body. Knees and tendons swell and set backs happen like the ankle injury that was just more rehab for a player that just wants to play. But good things come to those who wait, he doesn't say that exactly, but you just have to look at Waddell's last few years to know that's been true for him.

Matt Waddell is in the Indiana Hall of Fame. He played at Purdue... with Matt Painter.

Brian Waddell is Matt's kid. Still, as Brian was winning state titles for Carmel, and scoring 16 points and grabbing 8 rebounds a game in high school he had offers from Wright St. and Miami (Oh.), but nothing from Purdue. All the way into April it looked like Waddell might have to settle for another school.

Waddel didn't accept an offer from Painter until April, after Waddell's season and high school career was coming to an end and just a few months before the summer practices for Purdue would start.

Patience... well it's almost too on the nose isn't it?

Brian Waddell is 6'8" and despite putting some weight on his frame, is still what you'd call skinny. He plays with patience, or as Painter put it, "He's got a good pace to him in terms of being able to get an angle and turn corners and do different things. He has a good sense of where he is. Like the other day it looked like he was stuck underneath the basket and he just spun and laid it in. Something you don't see very much." The Austin Peay play, where he kept his feet on the ground and kept his eyes on the rim.

When you stop and breathe and let the world chaos around you, sometimes it's amazing what opens up for you. It already came natural to him on the court. Let the play unfold.

Stay on two feet, his coaches tell him. Adversary might have taught him that's a good lesson off the court, too.

It's not always good to harp on the unpleasantness in your life, but those hard times staying up at night thinking about what wasn't or what could be teaches you the most important lessons about yourself. Which is where Waddell was as he was icing and taking care of the ankle injury that jeopardized the start of his second season.

"It's obviously frustrating to go through all that last year and leading up to the season you have another set back like this. It was frustrating a little bit. I had a few tough nights thinking about it. It was tough to deal with but it just seems so small at that point. Last year I had been through everything. The worst injury I've been through in my career. A few weeks felt like nothing. I've been patient all year, I could do it a little longer."

Brian Waddell is still adjusting to the college game. He missed that whole year, and his spot on the roster seems both defined and precarious. But he's not losing sleep over that. The minutes, like everything else good, will come if he puts in the work, and you know, has the patience.

"This is just a speed and level I haven't played at before and I missed a lot of reps last year. So having to guard all these players is pretty difficult to run into right away especially after a year of having to rehab and all that. I just make sure I'm anticipating what the offense is gonna do. Being in the right spots early on. That really helps me stay in front of the ball. Being in position early makes it a whole lot easier."

And here we are again, where the lines between on court and off mix, and metaphors start jumping off the page like shots, and you can't help but think that the lesson is certainly a lot about patience, but, too, it's a lot easier to be sure of moving forward if you're already in the place you're supposed to be.

Brian Waddell will play for Purdue on Tuesday night against Marquette.